Feral felt completely lost and despite his best efforts, Dr. Mewser was no help. After being given instructions on handling his pregnancy, was removed from combat duty (he cursed at that) and being warned he needed a specialist if he was carrying it to term, Mewser reluctantly released him.
Leaving the medical section, Feral returned to his office, his mind in turmoil. His desk was filled with more reports but before he could decide if he was going to work or not a call came in about a runaway experiment at Pumadyne.
Setting aside his troubles with relief, an emergency was easier to handle than all this emotional crap, he headed back out for his chopper that was waiting for him. Sgt Fallon, his assistant was at the controls and lifted off as soon as his boss was secured in his seat.
It took over ten minutes to reach Pumadyne so he listened to the radio traffic to get a gist of what was going on. When they arrived a giant robot was clunking its way toward the city's nuclear power plant. From what he'd heard, the thing was unmanned and had no thought processes, but had somehow developed a short circuit that had set t moving. So now it was simply charging ahead in the direction it had been standing in the lab. It's huge metal body allowed it to walk through buildings and anything else it encountered, easily as it trekked forward in a straight line.
The only good news...it wasn't armed with any weapons except its own arms, fists and feet. That was enough to do significant damage to the labs that spawned it and the power lines overhead.
Sighing in disgust, Feral tried to think how best to bring the thing to heel when he heard the Turbokat. He watched as the jet flew around the robots head a moment, probably determining how best to take it out, then, the pilot flew the jet low to the ground. A line with a spike was fired from the jet, striking one of the things legs. Next, the pilot flew a rapid circle around the robots lower extremities spooling the line out behind it, neatly tying up the legs until the robot came crashing to its face on the ground. Apparently that was enough to take it out as the head sparked for a moment then exploded.
Relieved at the quick take down and no loss of his own equipment or enforcers, he called them over his radio. "Good job! Thank you!"
"You're welcome, Commander. What happened in the first place?" Razor responded, still a little surprised to be getting thanked besides being allowed to do whatever was needed without interference by the enforcers.
"Ahh, who knows...they certainly don't...all I was told was they lost control and it just walked out of its lab. We're fortunate that it wasn't armed and didn't have anything to guide it. Just a big piece of walking machinery," Feral said in disgust.
"Crud, that's just stupid! I think they should be fined for causing so much trouble in the first place. They have the worst record for safety and proper testing procedures anywhere," T-Bone groused in annoyance. "If I were you Feral, I'd let them clean up their own mess."
"Believe me I intend to. It's not on city property so its not my problem," Feral snickered.
T-Bone laughed in response then the jet turned and left. Feral watched them leave in stunned surprise. That laugh! He'd heard that laugh before...no that's impossible! He forcibly expelled that suspicion quickly and ordered Sgt Fallon to return them to base.
It was more than two weeks before he could bring himself to go to the club. Pregnant or not he wanted to be with his lover. The tabby was surprised when the tom only wanted to be cuddled and comforted for some time before they made love. He wondered what had upset the dark tom so badly.
Feral was in denial. He couldn't face the fact that tests had confirmed he was mated to this wonderful and caring tom nor that he was pregnant with their kitten. It was just too much for him to accept nor believe.
Meanwhile, he continued to see the tabby until his belly began to show too much. Anguished that he couldn't see the tom since he'd be forced to tell him the kitten was his, he resigned himself to not going to the club.
This caused the tabby to become concerned and worried. He was soo upset, he finally told his partner what was going on.
"Chance! I can't believe this! Why didn't you tell me you'd gotten serious with this tom?" Jake exclaimed more upset than his friend thought he should be.
"Why?"
Shaking his head, Jake stared at his friend in concern. This couldn't have happened at a worst time for them. "Buddy, tell me again how you feel about this guy and how often you've been seeing him?
Frowning in confusion, Chance told him, "uh, well we've been seeing each other exclusively for the past four months but before that, I, at least, was seeing others there from the time it first opened. However, that began to feel wrong so I stopped and saw him only. We just clicked and it feels so good to be with him anyway."
"Ohh Chance..." Jake moaned, rubbing his face.
"What...what's wrong?"
"You're mated buddy!"
Chance gaped at his best friend as if he'd lost his mind. "How the heck do you get that from my seeing a guy I don't even know, remember, and say we're mated."
"It doesn't matter that you don't know who he is. Everything you've told me points to you being mated, especially the part where you stopped seeing others because it felt wrong. That's a sign of being mated. And if that's not enough then a new test that's out can prove it to you. Your body makes a certain enzyme when you're mated and the test can find it."
Chance shook his head in disbelief. "And how am I going to get such a test done?"
"By having Dr. Konway run it at the BioTech Labs," Jake smirked.
"Oh, uh well when do you think we should do this, then?" Chance asked reluctantly.
"Tonight should be good."
Chance sighed and agreed.
Later that night, they slipped into Enforcer Headquarters and met up with Dr. Konway. Jake had contacted him through a communicator they'd given him a long time ago to ask if he could stay and do this for them. Though surprised to be asked, he agreed. He was used to being contacted by them because of needing his help, either for some new thing Viper had done or because they needed medical help. Even though he'd told them he wasn't an md that didn't stop them from seeking his help. He resigned himself to being their doctor knowing they really had no one and had no choice.
When they arrived, Konway hurried them into a small lab so no one caught them there, then drew some blood from T-Bone. It took him only ten minutes to do the test.
"It's positive, T-Bone," the scientists said positively.
"Aww, that's...gods...I can't believe it!" T-Bone moaned.
"I don't understand. Being mated is a happy occasion since its not very common," Konway said, confused.
"It's complicated doc. Thanks a lot for running the test but we'd better get out of here before we're found," Razor said, swiftly pushing his partner out of the lab.
When they'd returned home, T-Bone pulled his helmet then mask off and tossed them into his locker. "Damn! I'm sorry buddy. I never guessed that had happened."
"Yeah, I know, Chance. Unfortunately, what do we do about it now? You said he stopped coming to the club and now you're worried about him. This is going to distract you and that's dangerous for us," Jake said unhappily as he changed back to his mechanics clothes.
Chance was horribly conflicted and unhappy. Jake was right, this really complicated their lives and he didn't know what to do about it and he was worried. He didn't know where or who his mate was nor why he'd stopped coming to the club. Yeah, this was trouble alright.
Feral was miserable. He missed his mate terribly and his belly kept getting bigger. His great coat still hid it and since this was his first pregnancy, it should continue to do so since what he'd read, told him a lot of first kittens weren't that big. He'd still not seen a specialist and Mewser was furious with him.
"You're risking yourself and the kitten! You must get prenatal care!" Mewser stated angrily as he stood in Feral's office a month after telling the Commander he was pregnant.
"I know this. I've just not gotten around to it," Feral hedged, not wanting to discuss it.
Narrowing his eyes, Mewser said, "I will give you one week to find and see a specialist or I will remove you from duty. Your choice!"
Feral gaped at him. "You wouldn't dare!"
"Try me!" Mewser snapped. "I have the authority and will do it in a heartbeat!"
Gritting his teeth, Feral ground out, "fine, I'll find someone immediately."
Eyeing Feral a moment longer, Mewser nodded his head sharply. Turning on his heel he stalked angrily out of the Commander's office.
'Oh great! As if I wasn't under enough stress...' he groused mentally.